Britain's Jenson Button escaped unharmed after a gang of attackers armed with machine guns tried to hold up his car in Sao Paulo ahead of the Brazilian Grand Prix, he and his team said on Sunday.
Button — last year's Formula One drivers' champion who is trailing fifth in this year's standings — was being driven away from the Interlagos track after qualification on Saturday when the incident happened.
“We were going back from the track and were outside a shanty town and moving very slowly on the busy road,” Button said in comments quoted by Britain's Mail on Sunday newspaper.
“The next thing I saw was a man with a gun. Our guy angled the car and floored it...
“That's when we saw all six of them brandishing machine guns. My driver was a legend. It was very scary. I don't know whether they knew who it was they were ambushing.”
Button was being driven by a police driver in an armoured Mercedes at the time of the incident. His British-based team, McLaren, said that authorities in Sao Paulo would now be providing extra security for the 30-year-old driver and other team personnel to get them to the race.
“On Saturday evening on the way back from the Interlagos circuit to Morumbi (Sao Paulo), armed would-be assailants made an attempt to approach the car that was carrying Jenson Button,” the team's statement said.
“Neither Jenson nor the other occupants of the car were hurt. The other occupants were John Button (Jenson's father), Mike Collier (Jenson's physio) and Richard Goddard (Jenson's manager).”
